


oak was right

by socially_impaired_puffin



Series: Autistic!Din Djarin [1]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Autistic!Din Djarin, Canon Compliant, Din-centric, For the most part anyways, Gen, Help, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Is this too many tags, ManDadlorian, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Din Djarin, POV Third Person, Space Dad is tired, Stepping, also i literally made this account yesterday, aren't exact from the episodes, baby yoda eats eggs :(, but i'm aware that my descriptions of like, call me a perfectionist, chapter 10 the passenger, chapter 9 the marshal, etc - Freeform, exact standing, i didn't really proofread it, i project, idk i just was like damn din freezes a lot and i really feel that, literally just the first 2 eps of s2, my friend said aspergers!mando after reading it, so i guess, so i have no idea if this is too many or too little tags, specific moments, spoilers for the mandalorian season two, this is my first fic since i wrote an LOTR fic on paper in elementary school, though neither of them are in this fandom, two of my friends read it and thought it was fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27560356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/socially_impaired_puffin/pseuds/socially_impaired_puffin
Summary: Din freezes a lot when unexpected situations arise.
Series: Autistic!Din Djarin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016364
Comments: 13
Kudos: 81





	oak was right

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second time ever that I've written fanfiction and the first time (I cannot stress this enough) I was _in elementary school_ and I never showed it to anyone and eventually destroyed it. I made this account _yesterday_. It's also probably not done? Like I might add more to it. So, if you like this, please please please say hi! Or if you have feedback. Or just to scream about season 2. Or if you're thinking "gee, he seems to have a reasonable grasp of the mechanics of English grammar, I'd like him to beta for me" just say the word. My ability to write is questionable but my ability to revise and edit is quite decent. Thanks and I hope you at least slightly enjoy my fic!
> 
> (I forgot to change the title but yeah my friend Oak was telling me that coming up with fic titles is hard and she was right, guess this is the title now)

Din freezes a lot. The helmet protects his facial expressions from giving anything away, his training and reflexes generally keep him alive and relatively unharmed, and he can move fast, once he starts moving. It just takes a bit of time for him to move whenever something happens. 

_He's in Mos Pelgo's tiny cantina and the supposed Mandalorian- the Marshal, the bartender had called him-walks to the nearest table, spatchka bottle in hand with two small cups. Before Din can complete even a single step in the man's direction, this so-called Mandalorian removes his helmet and places it firmly on the table, stretching back in his seat calmly as though he has not just removed his helmet in public, has not just revealed himself to be wearing stolen Mandalorian armor in front of a real Mandalorian. Din is utterly motionless where he stands beside the bar of this small, dusty, empty cantina. Unsure if he's even remembering to breathe. Barely keeps his knees from locking. Even with his face hidden, he is dimly aware that he is very obviously staring, very obviously stunned, and very obviously frozen to the spot. Before he can force himself into motion, even pick a foot up and complete the interrupted step from before this latest...development, the man pauses to appraise Din over his cup of spatchka and begins to speak._

Being rash was a luxury not afforded to the covert's main source of income, nor can he now risk acting rashly with the kid to think of. His tendency to freeze in a situation as he takes in his surroundings and decides his next course of action is most obvious in conversation. Din has never been a great conversationalist. As a boy, he was shy even before his parents were...gone and he was adopted by a tribe of warriors. Though they didn't treat him like one, he still felt he was an outsider. Not their social customs nor his own nature were particularly bent towards being an open and communicative person. He was disinclined to share and they were disinclined to ask that of him, or of anyone in their tribe. Things were not discussed, most especially if the parties involved did not want to discuss them. Vulnerability was never something Din learned how to sit with comfortably. After all, showing weakness was something discouraged both by the memories of massive droids destroying his home and by the warriors raising him alike. Once he was of age, he swore the creed and retreated beneath the beskar, his face never to be shown to a living soul again. It made things easier. Now, when fast talkers overwhelmed him or a stranger did anything unexpected that wasn't threatening, his confused face as he processed the input was invisible. If the unexpected actions were threatening, his instincts kicked in quickly enough. For the most part. It wasn't even that he was an especially contemplative person; actually, he tried to avoid delving too deeply into his own mind at all costs. It just took him a second to really register what was going on around him, what it meant for him, and what response it would require from him. He didn't quite know why this was and he definitely wasn't inclined to search for answers, so he compensated for it. He was a hunter and a Mandalorian and he was always both invisible and painfully visible everywhere he went. He could not afford the risks hesitation brought, nor blow to his reputation as a bounty hunter if it were to impact his performance. He was careful to make his pauses seem intentional and controlled, like that of a calm predator about to strike, like someone who is deadly enough that they need not rush. And he ensures he is deadly enough to make this true and not merely an act or projection of his abilities. His thus-far continued survival is a testament to this; thus far, he is a sufficiently skilled hunter that his movements can be slow and deliberate and still lethally effective. 

_He descends the ladder to the Razor Crest's lower deck, physically tired to his bones and mentally exhausted from keeping up with Peli's banter and then handling the presence of a stranger in his home. He is not good with strangers. Not, of course, that he is good with anyone, but strangers are especially challenging. The snarky mechanic, while fast-talking and disdainful, is not a stranger. Her constant barrage of sarcastic barbs, made less sharp with the familiarity they're delivered with, is difficult for him to respond to, but now he knows Peli, knows that she doesn't expect him to say anything, perhaps even that she is aware of his discomfort with speaking and intentionally never leaves him space to get a word in even if he wanted to. Regardless, he certainly doesn't mind her company and, perhaps most importantly, she adores the kid. Good enough for Din. Even the way she says "Mando" doesn't feel as dismissive as it does coming from others. This new stranger, though, this frog woman that Peli claims is trustworthy on her life after meeting her ten minutes before, does not speak Basic nor Huttese and Din gives up trying to communicate. She's not likely to know Jawa (as if he really knows it either) and he's never met anyone else who speaks Tusken. Besides the Tuskens, that is. This woman, with her wide eyes taking in her surroundings and her hands protectively clutching her pack, is decidedly not a Tusken. What she is, most importantly, is a stranger. Besides his personal discomfort with strangers in general, there are legitimate reasons to exercise caution when bringing a total stranger into one's home. Especially when one has a kid and this kid is constantly being hunted by bounty hunters. Though Peli vouches for this woman and she certainly seems harmless enough, Din is wary and on edge the moment she boards the 'Crest, until finally his exhaustion from the past three days outweighs his anxiety about the stranger beside him in the cockpit and he excuses himself to rest. As his feet hit the deck, he automatically glances at the small hammock the kid sleeps in. Does a double-take upon realizing it's empty. Tensing his shoulders, he calls out for the kid and begins to turn, searching the narrow area frantically before his eyes land on his small green son...eating their guest's eggs straight from the incubator he'd somehow managed to open. He's literally slurping up the offspring of this stranger Din promised safe passage to, safe passage that included her eggs, the whole point of this sub-light journey. And Din knows, he KNOWS that he must stop the kid from eating any more of her spawn. The kid certainly isn't taking his time, either. And still he freezes, still at the foot of the ladder, shoulders still tensed and exhaustion slowly, ever so slowly clearing from his mind as the severity of the situation dawns on him. Even as he continues to stand frozen, he knows he must do SOMETHING. Finally, finally, FINALLY he yells at the kid to stop. Of course the kid ignores him-does he even understand Basic, he wonders for the nth time-until Din picks him up and away from the incubator. He doesn't know how many eggs were there before and he doesn't know how many the kid ate. Nor how many were eaten as he stood frozen at the bottom of the ladder._


End file.
